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Merdith Jernic
|fgcolor= |race=Terran |image= |imgsize= |gender=Female |birth= |death=December 17, 2499, Mar Sara |faction= Sons of Korhal |job=Engineer Operative Telepath |eyes=Dark |hair=Dark }} Merdith Jernic was an engineer of thermal wells and condenser systems from Mar Sara. She was also a Sons of Korhal operative and unregistered telepath. Her telepathic abilities enabled her to read minds and partially reverse the effects of neural resocialization. She had long, dark, tangled hair and dark eyes. Biography By Jernic's own admission, Sons of Korhal agents captured a psi emitter, a top-secret piece of Confederate technology and brought it to her so she could examine it. She activated the device, hoping to use the Confederacy's own technology "against further Confederate aggression." The "Rescue" The 417th Confederate Marine Corps Platoon found her and the psi emitter in the basement of a prefab house at Oasis Station. She was unconscious. A firebat, Private First Class Fetu Koura-Abi, aka "Cutter" carried her to their base at Scenic, desperately fighting their way past a swarm of zerg to do so. The psi emitter was carried by two marines, Sergeant Jon Littlefield and PFC Ardo Melnikov. She was taken to their command center's aid station and secured (Cutter strapped her to a bunk) while Melnikov guarded her. When she awoke, Melnikov mistook her for his lost girlfriend, Melani Bradlaw, leading to some embarrassment. Melnikov escorted her to the platoon's commanding officer, Lieutenant L. Z. Breanne, who ordered her arrest for stealing Confederate property. Meanwhile, both Jernic and Melnikov became aware that the Confederacy was abandoning the planet ... and them. Pandora's Box Melnikov continued to guard her. When they had some time alone, she told him she could unlock his memories of the zerg attack on his homeworld, Bountiful. Melnikov believed the Confederates had arrived to late to save many colony members, but now he recalled something different; marines attacking the colony and kidnapping people. Jernic told him the Confederacy had been press-ganging people and neurally resocializing them for over a year. Melnikov reacted badly to this, accusing her of doing something to his head. During a zerg attack on Scenic, Jernic grabbed the psi emitter and tried to escape in a cargo hauler. However, Melnikov caught her. She offered him an escape. The Sons of Korhal were coming to the planet with a large number of dropships, but by the time they got there, the zerg would have headed to the primary settlements and slain the colonists. Jernic and Melnikov could hide in an enclave which the zerg would not immediately attack until the Sons of Korhal could rescue them. However, Melnikov insisted on using the psi emitter to lure the zerg to their position, drawing them away from the vulnerable Mar Sara City to the west. This would give the Sons of Korhal enough time to evacuate the city's colonists... but would also result in the deaths of the remnants of the platoon. After the psi emitter was activated, Melnikov trusted Jernic enough to give her a rifle. The platoon took shelter in bunkers as an SCV repaired them while the zerg attacked. They kept the zerg occupied for the half an hour the Sons of Korhal needed to evacuate Mar Sara City before Scenic was overrun. References Hickman, Tracy (May 21, 2002). StarCraft: Speed of Darkness. Simon & Schuster (Pocket Star). ISBN 0-671-04150-9. Category:Terran characters in Speed of Darkness Category:Terran technicians Category:Terran psychics